After Easter - Getting With God's Program Of Serving Others

Matthew 20:28 "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Galatians 5:13 "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love."

1 Peter 4:10 "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms."

INTRO.- ILL.- A man worked in a post office. His job was to process all mail that had illegible addresses. One day a letter came to his desk, addressed in a shaky handwriting to God. He thought, "I better open this one and see what it’s all about." So he opened it and it read:

"Dear God, I am an 83 year old widow living on a very small pension. Yesterday someone stole my purse. It had a hundred dollars in it which was all the money I had until my next pension check."

"Next Sunday is Easter, and I had invited two of my friends over for dinner. Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with."I have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope. Can you please help me?"

The postal worker was touched, and went around showing the letter to all the others. Each of them dug into their wallet and came up with a few dollars. By the time he made the rounds, he had collected 96 dollars, which they put into an envelope and sent over to her. The rest of the day, all the workers felt a warm glow thinking of the nice thing they had done.

Easter came and went, and a few days later came another letter from the old lady to God. All the workers gathered around while the letter was opened. It read:

"Dear God, How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me?" "Because of your generosity, I was able to fix a lovely dinner for my friends. We had a very nice day, and I told my friends of your wonderful gift. " "By the way, there was 4 dollars missing. It was no doubt those thieves at the post office."

What’s the moral of the story? Even when you do good to others you may not be properly appreciated. Or you may even be accused of doing something wrong!

Generally, however, there is always a blessing in blessing others.

Prov. 11:17 "A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself."

Prov. 11:25 "A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."

We don’t do good things for others in order to be blessed by God. We do good things because God commands us to be servants of one another. But a side benefit is His blessing on our lives.

ILL.- Karl Hans Albrecht (born 20 February 1920) is a German entrepreneur who founded the discount supermarket chain Aldi with his brother Theo. He is among the richest men in the world, with an estimated net worth in 2009 of $21.5 billion according to Forbes Magazine. Albrecht is the wealthiest man in Germany.

He said, “If you’re not serving the customer, you’d better be serving someone who is.”

We all should be in the serving business! We should be quick to serve, to open doors, to greet, to say "thank you, and bless you,"quick to do chores, quick to do unsolicited chores, etc.

Instead of saying, "Do I have to do the dishes? Carry out the trash? Clean my room? Mow the grass? Dust furniture?" we should be quick to get up and help when others are sitting or doing nothing.

ILL.- Fred Gratzon, author: "The more people you undertake to serve, the more effective you will be. Commit to serving everyone and become maximally effective."

The way to bless others is by being a servant to others! The way to make the greatest impact on a lost and dying world is to be a humble servant. This is why Mother Teresa was so effective.

ILL.- CNN HEROES. JACKSON HEIGHTS, New York (CNN) — Every day, unemployed men gather under the elevated #7 train in Jackson Heights, Queens. Many of them are homeless. All of them are hungry. Jorge Munoz estimates he has served more than 70,000 free meals since 2004.

At around 9:30 each night, relief comes in the form of Jorge Munoz’s white pickup truck, filled with hot food, coffee and hot chocolate.

The men eagerly accept containers of chicken and rice from Munoz, devouring the food on the spot. Quiet gratitude radiates from the crowd. For many, this is their only hot meal of the day; for some, it’s the first food they’ve eaten since last night. “I thank God for touching that man’s heart,” says Eduardo, one of the regulars.